A Challenge Indeed.

He was my father… though in name only I knew him as the one who with my mother bore me. That’s all he ever was to me. I am the son of a man who drank and slept out ever since I could remember. My mother’s pain is forever etched in my heart Now he lays in a hospital bed A skinny ,withered frame, cirrhosis of the liver the doctor’s say No chance of survival, he can go any day. I don’t know why I visit…I feel no love for him. I think only of my mother now many years gone And wonder why this wicked man’s life goes on Why does he linger here, why can’t he just disappear. I can’t even touch his hand laying fragile on the sheet Twitching and drumming an erratic beat. He cannot even look at me…maybe he’s ashamed So he should be…does he even know my name I come every day to sit beside his bed Not a word is said.. not a look is shared Even as a tear dropped from his eyes..I felt nothing but hate as I looked upon his haggard face. The evening of the sixth day…I sat at his side and drew my chair closer to his bed I looked at him so frail and weak And took his hand in mine. He glanced at me sheepishly And quickly looked away again I kissed his cheek, I don’t know why But a strange feeling filled my heart I forgive you dad, I do love you, I said Go now in Peace. Where those words came from I don’t even know, but as he closed his eyes one last time I stood up, extended my arms to Heaven And was enveloped in a dazzling radiance Forgive…..Forgive… rang in my ears And as my spirit soared my soul was reborn.